31st July – A trip to East Sussex

31^st July – A trip to East Sussex

The idea of today was a day trip towards East Sussex to pick up the few stations I had left on the bottom part of the Hastings Line plus a couple others along the way broken up with a walk along the sea front between St Leonards & Bexhill.

 

The day began with an early morning drive to Romsey where SWR was charging £3.60 to park from the TVM but the signs said £2.30 (a complaint has gone into SWR, I suspect £3.60 is the rate it is being increased to but the signage hasn’t been updated).  Anyhow at the station it was a short wait before the 06:50 Portsmouth service arrived from Westbury, a 3 coach 166 (the same unit as I had the week before in Paignton!), this took me to Southampton Central where I noticed the Brighton service had been cancelled.

 

However luck was on my side as the Southampton – Victoria service was still running, and due to engineering works in the Horsham area it was going via Littlehampton, attaching to a Littlehampton – London service to go via Hove.  It was a lightly loaded 377, from the batch of 1s which had mostly all 3+2 seating [with some 2+2 seating in the areas above the wheels], getting busier as the journey went on as it went into Littlehampton, attaching to another couple 377s (both were high density units, but I did swap from the leading unit to the centre unit which was quicker, although it did pick up more passengers along the way to Hove as not only was the Southampton – Brighton service cancelled [that one would have overtaken this when it was at Littlehampton] but the previous West Worthing – Brighton stopper.

 

Changing at Hove onto the 313 working the Brighton shuttle, it was quite busy as it took me the short distance into Brighton itself, sadly missing the connection with the Hastings train, but with both the following Brighton – Ore & Hastings train cancelled it was a bit annoying, but I came up with another idea to jump on the next Seaford 313 to take me to Lewes (one very slow approach into Lewes station), although thankfully luck was with me as a London – Ore service was running around 5 minutes late, allowing me to make a negative connection onto a busy pair of 377s for the speedy run towards Eastbourne (where 8 became 4) before heading towards St Leonards Warrior Square.

 

A high density 377/1 on the London bound

 

I exited the train at St Leonards Warrior Square and set out for a walk towards West St Leonards going via a path which looked interesting on the map, but turned out to be between fences but it was worth it as it came out overlooking Bo-Peep Junction so after a couple photos of passing trains I headed towards the station to await the next Charing Cross stopping service to take me towards Robertsbridge (as I needed the northbound platform).  At Robertsbridge I had another gentle walk, doing a mile loop to the north of the station, although it was a bit muddy in places but certainly wasted some time.

 

The Charing Cross semi-fast passing West St Leonards

 

Next train took me back towards the quiet Crowhurst, for a short wait before the following London train took me into Battle to clear the line.  Another gentle loop (via a nearby Tesco Express for a late lunch) returning to the station to catch the next Hastings service to take me back to St Leonards Warrior Square, where once more I set out on foot, this time heading south towards the sea front (via Warrior Square gardens).  Once I gained access to the path next to the pebbled beach it was a gentle walk west, pausing now and again for some photos.  A detour was needed around Bulverhythe Beach onto the pebbles along the way due to the path being closed for emergency repair works but thankfully that didn’t last long (I don’t particularly like walking on that sort of ground).

 

 

I continued on my walk along the path, deciding to go up Galley Hill for some photos of both the beach and passing trains, before heading into Bexhill reaching the station with time to relax before the next Brighton service.  It was a nice gentle walk, some good views of the sea (and of passing trains from a footbridge near the St Leonards depot).  At Bexhill I caught a Brighton bound 377 (I did see a 387 floating around earlier in the day so was hoping to get that one) which took me to Hampden Park where I popped out to Tesco, my original idea was to connect with a Victoria train to visit Cooksbridge but that had been cancelled.

 

A 171 near Bexhill

 

Back at Hampden Park station, I reboarded the 377 from Hastings (as it called both ways) which took me to Brighton, where I had a tight connection to board a West Worthing 313 which took me to Fishersgate (noticing that there was a dad with 2 kids, all which had their feet on the seat opposite).  Fishersgate is a bit of a “nothing” station, as I walked the half mile back along the road to Portslade for no reason other than wanting to push my walking distance for the day over ten miles.  I would imagine Fishersgate is popular with those who think payment for rail travel is optional on grounds that it has no barriers (and Portslade does).

 

No trip involving Brighton is complete without a PEP...

 

 

The next West Worthing 313 arrived which took me to Worthing, before a Portsmouth bound 377 rolled in to take me to Portsmouth & Southsea, it was quite busy on board but emptied out as time went on.  At Portsmouth & Southsea (noticing a new Sainsburys Local outside the station which could come in handy one of these days) I had a short wait before a pair of 158s arrived from Portsmouth Harbour to take me back to Romsey, in a bit of luxury.

 

View of beach from Galley Hill

The GWR arrived at Romsey on time, as I walked back to the car and drove home, to relax for the remainder of the evening, an enjoyable day other than the various delays & cancellations at the start of the day.  Thankfully other than a spot of rain when I was walking to West St Leonards the day remained dry (although it was a bit of a chilly breeze from the sea).